I've played possessed for the past few years but I found them a little 1D so I'm thinking of starting a Dwarf warband when I can afford the time/money (oh and find a new gaming group) so I was just wondering what kind of setup people would recommend.

Oh and does anyone know of anywhere (in the uk or that ships there cheaply) that I could pick up some cheap minis maybe even second hand.

Hey man, if you havent read it already, me and a friend are starting Mordheim too and we're in Cheltenham, so if you ever fancy a game we arent that far. As for mini's let me know if you find somewhere to get them second hand, we're trying to get a few warbands between us.

Granted that setup is boring so the core advice I would give you is max your Heroes and having at least 3 Crossbows. The reason I push for Crossbows is that Dwarfs are slow and you will need to "encourage" you opponents to engage you. Also get Ropes and Hooks for your Heroes asap.

Edyy wrote:

I've played possessed for the past few years but I found them a little 1D so I'm thinking of starting a Dwarf warband when I can afford the time/money (oh and find a new gaming group) so I was just wondering what kind of setup people would recommend.

Oh and does anyone know of anywhere (in the uk or that ships there cheaply) that I could pick up some cheap minis maybe even second hand.

Nobles can't have Crossbows, unfortunately. One thing to consider is a screen of beardlings. I've used it before to good effect. Cheap enough to replace, tough enough to last by themselves. Back them up with crossbows and you are good to go.

Your are correct, I have been just awful with rules today. I never liked taking beardings mainly because having possibly LD:10, WS:5 or BS:4 henchmen always seemed better in the long run.

Grumbaki wrote:

Nobles can't have Crossbows, unfortunately. One thing to consider is a screen of beardlings. I've used it before to good effect. Cheap enough to replace, tough enough to last by themselves. Back them up with crossbows and you are good to go.

Your are correct, I have been just awful with rules today. I never liked taking beardings mainly because having possibly LD:10, WS:5 or BS:4 henchmen always seemed better in the long run.

Grumbaki wrote:

Nobles can't have Crossbows, unfortunately. One thing to consider is a screen of beardlings. I've used it before to good effect. Cheap enough to replace, tough enough to last by themselves. Back them up with crossbows and you are good to go.

Aye, I always felt the same way. It's just the cost that gets to me. When a clansman dies, it hurts. When a beardling dies, it is more managable. My first three dwarf warbands I played with clansmen. In my last one I used beardlings, and I actually liked it better.

Yeah I can see where the cost becomes an issue. I've had good luck in the past, but I play a big defensive game with my dwarfs since I can't win a footrace. I'll have to try some beardlings out I suppose.

I thought about trying to get as many crossbows as possible but then like in your list @SaltyWendigo I could only get a few warriors and I think I want at least 3-4 henchmen just so that I can try to avoid my heroes going OoA. So do you reckon I could get away with one crossbow for the Engineer and then a few guys with pistols instead just to save a bit of money?

Heres what I had in mind:

Noble with Hammer and Pistol Engineer with Crossbow2 Slayers with Halberd

2 Clansmen with Hammer and PistolThunderer with PistolBeardlings with Shield

Particularly dwarfs should consider Gromril armor, if there are houserules that improve them.

Regarding the minis you should try to build a rough warband with 12 minis or better 15-20 minis that you can switch modells (if you want more clansmen with 2hand weapon or more thunderer etc):1xNoble axe+shield2x Slayer 2handed weapons or 2 weapons1x Engineer crossbow4x thunderer crossbow4x clansmen ....

It dosn't help, if you get money after your first game and you have no minis do use them.

Dwarfs are a tough nut to crack. Speed is there one true weakness and to over come it you need to be able to shoot well. a few x-bows to over come this is best. other then that I say the number of troops you start with is not that important with them as you have a higher Ld then most warbands as well. granted don't throw your guys away thinking you will never rout though. It will be hard for you to recruit past 8 guys to start and have equipment. If you push for that 9 mile stone then odds are you will have to win the battles in a scrap with no shooting. 2-3 x-bows and try to win with those with the rest of your dwarfs with hammer/dagger mix to get in close to win the day.

also don't be afraid to get 2 handed weapons. the strike last rule isn't going to hurt you much with dwarfs. you have Initiative 2 so odds are good your striking last any way in most cases, why not get the +2 strength if you can.

Never forget about mercs. They can easily balance out some of dwarfs weaknesses, and you have quite a few to chose from (mercs, I mean). I would recommend tilean marksman or imperial assasin at the beginning. Depends on what you intend to boost more, ranged combat or melee. Marksman doesnt benefit from engineers skill, but he should always hit on 3+ (Though in our games he is cursed - lots of bad rolls). Imperial assasin has poisoned everything, lots of cool stuff and excellent stats. With gold earned from Incomparable miners skill you can easily afford a merc without hindering your progress much.

Halfling Scout is your friend. Extra warband member for dirt cheap. Plus he cooks. And he can move around the battlefield quickly. His cheap cost and decent Ld makes him an ok choice for sacrificing himself to slow down enemies until your stunties can catch up.

Slayers should only ever use 2 Dwarf axe's add a beardling with a shield and light armour in front of him to absorb shots on the way to the combats, arrows are Slayers only weakness 1st skill up get Master of Blades

Slayers should only ever use 2 Dwarf axe's add a beardling with a shield and light armour in front of him to absorb shots on the way to the combats, arrows are Slayers only weakness 1st skill up get Master of Blades

And balance wise dwarfs don't get magic at a starting level so that's a balance

Hm? Plenty of warbands don't have magic heroes at their disposal o.O that's not a balance issue at all (Unlike some warbands they can also hire plenty of magic users).

Master of Blades is imbalanced simply because no other one skill does so much for a hero as it does. Hell just look at the wall of text attached to it! Most skills give your character one additional buff/ability...Master of Blades gives you three xD.

It's pretty much always going to be the first skill any dwarf axe wielding warrior will take as it suddenly makes your dwarf almost un-killable in close combat versus any other normal warrior. You're only effective counter to it is to try and play "keep away" with them...at which point the crossbowmen can simply rip you to shreds xD

Ofc that is all just in a straight up fight, not really a realistic representation of tabletop/scenario tactics ^^'

I was going to avoid the master of blades skill because it just seemed a little too good so I was going to set my slayers up with the double attacks on the turn they charge skill for their first skill. And on the the gromril totting tank approach I played a test out of dwarfs a few months ago with the gromril badass because who can resist the temptation of getting gromrill for half price and no rarity rolls? But only ended up with about 6 guys and got ripped to shreds by my mates reikladers (we play with quite a lot of scenery but most of our buildings are at least 3 storey high turning me into pin cushions while my dwarfs attempted to drag their stumpy little bodies up to the top) so I think its probably worth trading the gromrill for a couple of beardlings/pistols and crosbows but I still need to it out test out (hopefully this easter if revision for my exams goes well) and also is the light armour really necessary for the engineer? wouldn't he be better served by a shield and dwarf axe? or just send him in armourless and put the 20 towards another crossbow or pistol?

I say it's a solid list too. But the 20 gold for a 6+ AS is a waist. if your playing house rules then ok I can see it but at the early part of the game it seams a waist.better to save the 20 gold in the bank for more dwarfs latter (as they have a high cost) or throw a x-bow (- shield) on one of your beardlings... or throw helmets on the two beardlings if you want them as scrappers.

To me it seemed like a good idea to have at least to crossbow toting Dwarves. Besides this I basically stripped down a lot of my starting guys to hammers accept for a slayer whom I gave a two handed hammer. My goal was to start with 4 heroes and 6 henchmen.

I think the list a posted in the starting warbands thread is pretty close to my final list though I made some changes. We are playing our first game this weekend so I will find out soon how well it goes.

@Pervavita I think only Thunderers and the Engineer can use crossbows.